Jack and the Case of the Spelling SleuthBy: Matt Gibson

The open auditorium was dark and reeked of sweat from the nervous contestants still in the 1995 Oldstown school spelling bee. The sound that could be heard was the deep breathing from the microphone and the occasional squeak in the chair. You could almost taste the humidity of 400 kids in the room.

The two left, Jack Johnson, a tall 13 year old who was always excelling in class and Woof Dogonson who was an 11 German who could barely reach the microphone. He however barely tried in class for the few days he had been there.

Every time Jack got a word right he would look over to Woof, Woof would give him an ominous look back. This kid was pretty creepy because he never really talked to anyone and he always had a creepy grin on his face that made it seem like he wanted to hurt someone.

Prior to this day Jack had always been known as the smartest kid in the school, but that all changed after he misspelled the word tinsel. So this mysterious kid that no one knew anything about took his place. But Jack just knew there was something different about this kid but he had no idea what that thing was.

As crazy as it sounds, this had happened before. It was the science fair three years ago when Al Ian brought a working UFO to school and won.They proceeded to find out that he was an alien because he was talking in a weird gurgling language on a futuristic phone. This was a weird school so it would be normal if he wasn't human or something.

Jack knew he had to win this spelling bee. He couldn't lose his reputation as the smartest kid in the entire school to some German kid that hardly spoke English. If he lost to Woof his popularity and all his hopes and dreams would be lost and he would never amount to anything ever again.

The next day Jack went back to school in detective mode. All my old friends are sitting with Woof laughing at his jokes. The national spelling bee college scouts are there quizzing him while he aces the words. That should be me. I'm supposed to be acing those words, he thought. He needed to figure out who this kid was and fast before all hope was lost. He had a plan, he would sneak to his house to see what his true identity was.

Later that night Jack snuck into the Dogonson's house which was completely illegal. He heard a creepy noise as he tiptoed up the stairs. Then the floor creaked. He hid in the dark as he heard two pairs of feet walk towards him. He then proceeded to check each room silently until he was able to find Woofs. Finally in the third room to the left he found him.

He then had a flashback of what he was doing this for. Back at school, It was like Jack hardly existed anymore after the bee. It was like he fell off the face of the Earth. All his friends treated him like he didn't exist or like he was some sort of ghost.

When Jack got to Woofs room he reached to his face and felt that it was a mask. He pulled it off to find that Woof was a dog!

Jack then shouted, “You are so busted. The title of spelling bee champion will belong to me. You cheater!”

The next day Jack reported this to the school and since the winner must be human, Jack was given the title and for the rest of his school days he went down as the coolest, smartest, and best detective kid the school had ever had. All the kids agreed with except for Woof who thought he was the biggest cry-baby ever.